Abstract
In this chapter, I make central the concept of praxis in explorations of Maroon social histories and in our own politically engaged archaeology. I argue that as archaeologists adopt praxes and critically evaluate their own roles as politically motivated researchers, they can actively explore sites and people of the past who also lived praxis-grounded lives. In not espousing a passive approach to the idea that the past informs the present and future, I advocate here a politically strategic approach to site and historical-foci selection among practicing leftist archaeologists. I use my work in the Great Dismal Swamp, specifically on communities of praxis-driven communities in which African American Maroons lived, to highlight and flesh out key elements of my position. I suggest that the time is upon us where we must use archaeology to actively transform the immediate future—archaeology is not a means of leftist activism, per se, but is activism in itself when used as a part of one’s praxis.
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Notes
- 1.
I also pointed out that there are very few people practicing leftist archaeology today, which follows of course, more or less, the fact that there is no leftist movement in the profession. This position begs for a definition of “leftist” because one person’s left is another’s liberal or even, occasionally, right. I ended up suggesting a simple definition of leftism: acting with the intent to help entirely transform the capitalist system or mode of production in order to create an egalitarian and novel mode(s) of production in which human beings live minimally alienated lives (in the Marxian sense). Meanwhile, liberalism is more like doing something within the system to make some or all people’s lives qualitatively better than they are at present. The remaining political positions (e.g., centrist, right) are simply about individuals staying as comfortable and minimally importuned by their society and economy as is possible or conceivable—to put it nicely.
- 2.
After writing this essay, I had the pleasure of talking at length with LuAnn Wurst of Western Michigan University in the fall of 2013. It became clear in the course of our conversation that LuAnn and I had been lately thinking along very similar lines about many aspects of leftist archaeology and specifically the need for our developing strong national and international connections through conferences, consortia, and other means. I am indebted to LuAnn for helping me to clarify my thoughts on many issues pertaining to the Left and for revitalizing my hope in seeing a truly leftist archaeology emerge in the future.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Chuck Orser for inviting me to this contributing chapter. I also thank Pedro Paulo A. Funari for helping to put together this important volume. Thanks as well to my colleagues at American University in Washington, DC, for consistently reminding me of the importance of self-reflexive examination of our own research and its potential importance in the world beyond ourselves. Vipra Ghimire is my greatest supporter, and she has my deepest appreciation. Finally, I thank the many institutional supporters of my Great Dismal Swamp research, including the National Endowment for the Humanities (grant RZ5121910), the US Fish and Wildlife Service, American University, and the College of William and Mary (2001–2008)—the views I expressed in this chapter do not necessarily reflect any or all of those supporting organizations’ views.
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Sayers, D. (2015). Maroon and Leftist Praxis in Historical Archaeology. In: Funari, P., Orser Jr., C. (eds) Current Perspectives on the Archaeology of African Slavery in Latin America. SpringerBriefs in Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1264-3_2
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